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The View from My Kitchen

Benvenuti! I hope you enjoy il panorama dalla mia cucina Italiana -- "the view from my Italian kitchen,"-- where I indulge my passion for Italian food and cooking. From here, I share some thoughts and ideas on food, as well as recipes and restaurant reviews, notes on travel, and a few garnishes from a lifetime in the entertainment industry.

You can help by leaving comments on posts and by becoming a follower. More than a hundred thousand people all over the world have viewed the blog and that's great. But every great leader needs followers and if I am ever to achieve my goal of becoming the next great leader of the Italian culinary world :-) I need followers! I promise, I'm not going to spam anybody. I'd just like to know who's out there and what your thoughts are on what I'm doing.

Grazie mille!

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin

Natural Ingredients Instead of “Natural
Flavor”

Not everything I
cook is Italian. Every once in awhile the French part of my heritage
breaks through and demands attention. When it does, I fix it a nice
dish of patates au gratin, or
“potatoes au gratin.” Some people also call them “au gratin
potatoes.” And because I'm as much of a stickler in French as I am
in Italian, it should be noted that the correct pronunciation is not
“aw GROT-in,” but rather “oh grah-TAHN,” and you kind of
swallow the “n”.

“Gratin”
is a classic French culinary technique that involves giving a dish a
browned crust, usually by baking a preparation topped with
breadcrumbs, cheese, eggs, or butter in a shallow dish under an
overhead grill (called a “salamander” in restaurant-speak) or a
broiler.

The best way to achieve uniform
1/8-inch sliced potatoes is with a mandoline. Just be careful if
you're not experienced in using one. USE THE GUARD or a cut-proof
Kevlar glove while slicing. 1/8-inch slices of raw fingertip are very
unappetizing. You can use a knife, but it's a slower, more tedious
process.

Okay, here's what you do:

Heat your oven to 400°.

While the oven is preheating, grab a 2
qt saucepan and heat the butter and oil over medium heat until the
butter is melted into the oil. Add the onions and cook, stirring
occasionally, until tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in the flour, salt,
and pepper. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and
bubbly. Remove from heat.

Stir in the milk, cream, and cheddar
cheese. Return to heat and bring to a low boil, stirring constantly.
Simmer and stir for about 1 minute or until the sauce thickens.

Lightly grease a 2-quart glass or
ceramic baking dish with butter. Spread the sliced potatoes in
layers. Pour the cheese sauce over the potatoes.

Cover with foil and bake for about 20
minutes. Remove the foil and bake uncovered for an additional 20
minutes. Mix in the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Top with bread crumbs and
sprinkle with paprika, if desired, and continue baking an additional
10 or 15 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and bubbly. (You
might want to flip the broiler on for the last couple of minutes to
get a nice brown, bubbly top. Just watch it carefully; the broiler
can take it from brown and bubbly to black and nasty very quickly.)

Yields 6 (1/2 cup) servings

It's not as easy as opening a box and
dumping in some water, but the end result is even more delicious and
you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you used natural ingredients
instead of “natural flavor.”

Who Am I (and Why Should You Care)?

I've been around long enough to know a little bit about a lot of things. That said, there are a couple of things I know a little bit more about; food and entertainment.

I've been cooking since I was a kid -- a very long time, indeed -- and I've spent most of my adult life in the entertainment industry.

I've been writing about one or the other of these topics since the '80s, and I have been published in numerous magazines and newspapers over the years. I also spent the better part of two decades behind a microphone as the host of my own radio talk show.

Does all of this make me an expert? Nah! But I'm certainly entitled to my opinion -- and so are you! :-)